Jay Pimphalkhare greets me with an easy smile. We’re sitting on Google Meet, but even across the screen, his energy is contagious and his enthusiasm is palpable. Jay is 20, and currently studies communication design at ISDI. He’s an artist through and through, yet his pathway into art feels unplanned — serendipitous even — like most things in his life. He’s always willing to listen to your interpretations of his work, even if they’re wildly different from his original intent. In fact, he finds joy in this mismatch.
Jay’s work is a riot of ideas, colours, and influences that reflect his evolving journey as an artist. He is as much in conversation with himself as he is with the viewer. He’s both precise and spontaneous. His portfolio is curated chaos; a collision of striking bursts of color, fantastical imagery, and delicate ink-work that offers a window into his psyche.
“I started drawing back in 2017, 2018,” he tells me, pulling up some of his older pieces. They’re detailed, intricate ink drawings, all in black and white — dizzying landscapes and surreal portraits that evoke both a sense of calm and restlessness. “I started with just a dot or a line, and then it developed into something else,” he explains, almost in awe of how much his art has evolved since then. Now, his work is loud, unapologetically colorful, and teeming with conceptual weight.
At its core, Jay’s art is about expression. It’s concept-driven, often springing from a single idea or a sliver of reality that he weaves into something entirely his own. One piece, for instance, came from the phrase “think outside the box” — a mantra drilled into him while applying to colleges. Jay’s interpretation? A grotesque monster contained within a box, its hands straining against the confines, ready to break free. “It was my answer to why people say thinking inside the box is so bad. Maybe there’s something horrible inside the box,” he laughs.
But for all the chaos and complexity of his pieces, there’s a distinct sense of play in Jay’s art — a raw, unfiltered joy. He often draws on inspirations from pop culture, cartoons, and sci-fi movies. Adventure Time, Akira, and even Tron Legacy make their appearances, blended into his work in unexpected ways. His affection for these shows isn’t just nostalgic, they shape the way he sees the world, infusing his art with a sense of wonder and sometimes, darkness. “I love Adventure Time,” he says with the same grin as a kid confessing to stealing chocolate. His work inspired by The Lich, the villain of Adventure Time, is a testament to his ability to merge the whimsical with the sinister.
Our conversation is full of these tangents — digressions into Jay’s love for sci-fi, his experiments with different mediums, and the sheer fun of graffiti. His latest foray into street art, where he tags pieces with his alias 'DSTRB', represents a radical departure from his detailed, painstaking usual work. Graffiti allows him to be free, to create with urgency, with paint splattering on canvas in less than an hour. “There’s no story, there’s nothing,” he says. “I just go down with paint and make something.”
At one point during our conversation, Jay shows me his latest obsession: a speaker. But not just any speaker. It’s this sleek, futuristic-looking contraption. “Check this out,” he says, grinning. The speaker is phallic in the most unapologetic way, and Jay is fully aware of it. “I’m really into this whole organic futurism thing right now,” he says, as if that explains why his audio system looks like something you’d find in an intergalactic bachelor pad. “It reminds me a lot of H. R. Giger’s style.” I can’t help but laugh because of course, this is the kind of thing Jay would be obsessed with. The man finds artistic inspiration in everything, including, apparently, his Bluetooth speaker.
As our conversation drifts toward his upbringing, it becomes clear that Jay’s artistic roots run deep. His mother, a talented artist herself, has been a quiet but profound influence. “She never pushed any of it on me,” he reflects. “She’d just give me a canvas and let me do whatever.” Jay’s room, he shows me, is sparsely decorated, save for a few pieces of art from his mother, one of which dominates a wall, filled with layered detail. The resemblance between their styles is unmistakable, but Jay has made his work entirely his own.
For all his ambition, Jay remains refreshingly grounded. He speaks with self-deprecating humor, often shrugging off compliments about his work, and there’s a genuine curiosity that drives him. He’s endlessly fascinated by new mediums, particularly video, which he sees as the next step in his artistic journey. “You can pack so much into a 15-second video.”
As we wrap up, Jay offers one last thought that sticks with me: “I just hope people feel something when they look at my work. Even if it's something bad.” In an age where indifference can feel like the ultimate insult, Jay’s art defies apathy. It’s alive with feeling, whether it’s joy, discomfort, or intrigue — and that, more than anything, seems to be the point.
Follow Jay here.
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